Ranged weapon
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Ranged weapons include all weapons capable of attacking any target within your line of sight. All of these require ammo to function, and most of them require you to wield a launcher. The ability to attack distant foes is very helpful, particularly for characters with fast movement speed (see kiting). However, ranged weapons are not without their drawbacks. Running out of ammo renders a ranged weapon nearly useless, and melee weapons tend to have better overall stats.
Contents
Throwing
Throwing weapons can be further divided into two categories: thrown weapons and blowguns.
Thrown weapons are unique among ranged weapons in that they do not require you to wield anything to use them; you simply hurl them without needing a free hand (Don't ask). This means you don't have to waste time in combat swapping weapons, saving turns and reducing frustration. However, thrown weapons also tend to be weaker than other ranged weapons, and their attack speed doesn't improve with skill.
- Stone
- Tomahawk
- Javelin
- Throwing net
- Large rock (trolls and ogres only)
Blowguns are very unusual ranged weapons. In spite of the fact that they are affected by your Throwing skill, they require you to wield a blowgun and fire needles at the enemy. These deal no damage, but inflict devastating status effects.
Slings
Slings are ranged weapons which hurl sling bullets (or stones in a pinch) with great force. They are one-handed weapons for all but the tiniest characters and require much less skill than most other weapons to reach min delay, but they are significantly less powerful than their slower, more cumbersome alternatives.
Bows
Bows are a moderate player's choice of ranged weapon, firing arrows at your opponents to deadly effect. They are universally more powerful than slings, and require only a reasonable skill investment to fire quickly. However, both kinds of bow require two hands to wield.
Crossbows
If you want a ranged weapon that tears into foes with the strength of a melee weapon, consider getting into crossbows. These contraptions are the largest, slowest ranged weapons available, but they launch their bolts with unparalleled force. Unfortunately, they require the most skill of all ranged weapons to attack quickly, particularly in the case of the super-heavy triple crossbow. With the exception of the tiny hand crossbow, crossbows are two-handed weapons.
Brands
Ranged weapons and their associated ammunition are capable of carrying a wide variety of brands which can greatly increase your lethality when used correctly:
Ranged Weapon Brands
- Electrocution - Deals additional electricity damage
- Evasion - Increases EV
- Flame - Converts all damage to fire, increases damage by 0-40%
- Frost - Converts all damage to cold, increases damage by 0-40%
- Penetration - Projectiles can pierce through enemies, hitting everything along its trajectory
- Speed - Attacks take 66.6% normal time
- Venom - Poisons target
- Vorpal - Increases damage by 0-40%
Ammunition Brands
- Confusion - Confuses target
- Curare - Poisons, slows, and asphyxiates target
- Dispersal - Forces target to blink randomly
- Exploding - Hits target and all adjacent tiles with a small unavoidable explosion
- Flame - Converts all damage to fire, increases damage by 0-40%
- Frenzy - Berserks target and temporarily turns it hostile to everything
- Frost - Converts all damage to cold, increases damage by 0-40%
- Paralysis - Paralyses target
- Penetration - Projectiles can pierce through enemies, hitting everything along its trajectory
- Poisoned - Poisons target
- Returning - Ammo may return to the attacker, with chance based on player skill or monster HD
- Silver - Deals massive damage to chaotic targets
- Sleep - Puts target back to sleep
- Slowing - Slows target
- Steel - Increases damage by 30%, mulches much less often
If both your launcher and your ammo have brands, the brand of the missile usually overrides that of the launcher. Exceptions include the vorpal and speed brands, which stack with any ammo, and the fire/cold damage brands, which cancel out each other when paired together.
